Thats ironic to hear since every issue I've had with apple products over the last few years were only fixed due to class action lawsuits. Damn the Butterfly keyboards to hell.
Anecdotal, but I’ve had an Apple Pencil replaced for free on the spot well outside of its warranty because it was defective and I hadn’t realised (don’t ask) I’ve had a Apple Store employee hand me a brand new iPhone when I brought in my phone that wouldn’t turn on one day - no questions asked. I’ve had friends with very similar cases. It’s always felt like “against policy” which might be their actual policy so it doesn’t get abused or something? They mentioned that the manager made an exemption for me with the Pencil. It’s very hard to track and very hard to advertise but their customer service in my experience has been exceptional.
I think this is the difference with Tim Cook’s Apple. I had good luck with Apple support many years ago where there was an obvious defect. The people at the Apple Store seemed empowered to do the right thing. These days it feels more like the math formula in Fight Club.
Every other phone in its class had the same problem; people seem to forget they part. They gave out free bumpers to mitigate it, which I didn’t see other companies do. Of course it was only Apple in the headlines, because they get the clicks.
I’m not saying Jobs was perfect, but I had a lot of experiences in the Apple Store where they would fix stuff they had the power to fix, because it shouldn’t happen. I had a spec of dust under my screen and they replaced the screen no questions ask, at no cost. I was having a logic board replaced in my MBP and they replaced the screen clutch, just because they noticed it felt loose (I didn’t even notice before they replaced it)… no deductibles or anything.
Modern Apple Care feels much more like health insurance than an extended warranty.
> Every other phone in its class had the same problem; people seem to forget they part
No, they aren't forgetting anything. The magnitude of the issue with the 4 was significantly worse than with other contemporary devices, to the point of rendering it incapable of making a call if you were a lefty with sweaty hands.
AnandTech did a reasonably scientific comparison of the 4 with a few other devices at the time, if you don't believe me.
This is just not true; the 4 went on to be one of Apple’s best-selling devices, long after the free bumper program ended. Its design was never changed; the media furor just faded and the phone worked fine and sold fine. I had one for years, for what it’s worth.